By Chesley Oxendine

Times Correspondent

What could have been tragedy evolved into relief for one Fort Gibson family, when Meghan Kizzia had a benign, baseball-sized tumor safely removed from her brain.

After two consecutive successful surgeries, one to remove the tumor and one to drain excessive fluids, Kizzia’s mother Kathy White said the Fort Gibson State Bank teller now rests at home.

The outcome proved nothing less than “miraculous,” she said.

“We want to make sure to give our glory to God,” White said. “God gave us the strength to get through this and we wouldn’t have been anything without Him and the people he put on our path during this journey.”

Kizzia said the outpouring of prayers and support was “shocking.”

“I can’t believe how incredible everyone has been,” she said. “You go through your life wondering ‘does anyone notice me? Do I make a difference?’ Then something rocks your world and people crawl out of the woodwork to help and pray for you and I’m just like, ‘I love this town.’”

Kizzia suffered powerful headaches for two years before the symptoms started getting worse, which finally prompted a CAT scan July 2.

“I’d wake up vomiting from the pain. I really couldn’t do anything,” she said. “I couldn’t run, I couldn’t laugh, and for the past two months sometimes it got to the point where I couldn’t see.”

Shortly after arriving home from the scan, a doctor called her back to report a “mass on my brain,” she said.

“I went in that day thinking, there’s nothing wrong with me, I’m 21,” Kizzia said. “Nothing like that happens to people so young, but when I got that phone call everything changed. That was quite a scary thing.”

Kizzia said during her stay in the hospital, a surgeon’s assistant informed her that the tumor’s presence indicated one of two kinds of cancer.

“She said cancer, and when you hear the word cancer you think, ‘I’m going to die,’” Kizzia said. “But with the prayers and support and everything, I gave it to God. I let it go. I can’t tell you the peace I had.”

The tumor proved benign and during surgery doctors removed 99 percent of the mass from Kizzia’s brain, White said.

Kizzia said she remembered one moment in particular just before the surgery — her stepfather Steve White sat with her in the hospital room and prayed with her.

“He just gave it up to God and I felt this huge weight lifted off of me,” Kizzia said. “I remember my biggest fear before going under was that I would wake up and something would be wrong with me, like slurred speech, but I remembered everybody and I was fine.”

The family thanked God and the community for “overwhelming support,” Kathy White said.

“There was a Facebook page for her, and over 750 people poured out their prayers,” she said.  “There were people having garage sales for her, people praying from other countries. We’re just so thankful to them all.”